To consider the progress made against the recommendations following the Local Government Association (LGA) corporate peer review held in February 2018.

The Committee considered progress made against the recommendations following the Local Government Association corporate peer review held in February 2018.

The Chief Executive gave an introduction outlining the rationale for inviting the peer review and the proposed improvements in response to its recommendations.

The Assistant Director – People and Performance gave a presentation a copy of which had been published prior to the meeting.

The Director for Adults and Wellbeing commented on the “Talk Community” project.

In discussion the following principal points were made:

·        With reference to the Talk Community project and the establishment of community hubs it was suggested that consideration of their development should involve parish councils and ward members.

It was also suggested that a pilot should take place in a sparse rural parish in addition to the city and market towns.

There was a lack of public awareness of the Talk Community project and social care provision in general.  It was important that the communication challenges in promoting the “Talk community” and other community support projects were recognised and an appropriate communication strategy put in place.  It would be particularly important to reach those on the verge of engaging with social care.

The key performance indicators, knowledge and learning of how the current hubs are operating should be publicised and utilised to assist the development of the new hubs being proposed.

It was suggested that the Adults and Wellbeing Scrutiny Committee be invited to consider reviewing the Talk Community project as part of its future work programme.

It was suggested that given that the directorates had different remits and cultures it would be a challenge to achieve the one council objective.

·        Within the context of the One Council approach a member questioned whether the accommodation for members of the council could be reviewed.  The Chief Executive commented that if members had concerns on this matter he would like these to be communicated to him for consideration.

·        The Chief Finance Officer commented on the strategic review of finances that had been undertaken and the peer review team’s comments in response to which a review of reserves had been undertaken and a financial resilience reserve established.

·        It was suggested with reference to recommendation 1 of the review that the outstanding natural environment of Herefordshire and a commitment to mitigating climate change should be incorporated into the economic vision and master plan.

The Chief Executive commented that the master plan was focused on economic development and growth.  The council had separately made a number of commitments on environmental issues. It had been considered that it would be appropriate to connect the Community Plan to the economic master plan given the key role communities played in economic development.

A motion that when the long term vision was tested more widely that the outstanding natural environment be included in the unique selling point for Herefordshire was lost.

·        Further information was also sought on the effectiveness of the new project management tool that had been acquired and how this was being measured.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 48